All Quiet on The Eastern Front.

[James Crowley]

I am becoming increasingly intrigued by the apparent "wall of silence" that appears to have surrounded CMBB.

Following the two third-party interviews with BTS in May(?), the resultant handfull of screenshots and a few desultory "if,but or maybe" answers to questions posed on this forum, there has been.... nothing

From memory, BTS's Steve stated that he expected a steady flow of information to appear after the publication of the interview with CG in June. Unless I've missed something, that does not appear to have happened.

This is in sharp contrast to the build-up to the release of CMBO. We had the famous Alpha- Battle, which was a great show-case for the game and the spur to my pre-order, almost a year before the final release. This was followed by numerous features at CMHQ highlighting new features, updated graphics etc. The forum was alive with questions, comments and discussions, most of which were answered by BTS.

Now there are almost no CMBB threads posted at all. The few that have started have just fizzled-out, as there has been no "official" response. CMBB seems to have become rather ephemeral; to the more casual observer it would appear not to even exist

:eek: especially as there is not even a mention of it on Battlefronts own site!

Please do not get me wrong. I am neither complaining nor suggesting that BTS have any duty to report their activities to us, in any way. I am just saying that I am surprised that CMBB seems to be being handled rather differently, for reasons which are not immediatley apparent.

Secrecy? Too busy? Maybe, but seems a little unlikely. Can't be any busier or needing more secrecy than with CMBO surely!

I have a theory, but won't bore anyone with it at this stage

[Username]

i think they are actually doing a phased testing approach. Since there are significant changes being introduced, they want to make sure that as they fold in, the sum of the parts isnt a big lump of changes that dont work together.

Or maybe they are having office parties and rubber band fights.

Lewis

[Fieldmarshall]

I already informed the public...CM:BB is just a rouse, they arent really working on a video game...how can you be so blind...I have found out that they are working on an evil project....Madmatt may just be trying out for a hair regrower but steve and charles have something up their sleeve...

[Pvt. Ryan]

The more time BTS spends working on CMB2B and the less time they spend chatting about it in the forum means the sooner CMB2B will be done. I too would like to know more about CM2, but I figure BTS will tell us something when it has something to tell us. Whenever BTS has shown us some of the new stuff or asked the members for an opinion the threads degenerated into a whinefest. I'm sure they will ask for more of our input when they need it, but lets just let them do their thing.

So, Steve, any new pics?

[Schrullenhaft]

CMBO had a much longer gestation period (years) than CMBB has. CMBB also has a much larger historical period to cover than CMBO does. There are somewhere near three times as many vehicles/variants as CMBO has and that is a lot of textures and 3D models. Talk to anyone that does graphical mods and they'll tell just how long it takes to create/modify a texture. There are also many unique nationalities with unique equipment and OOBs covering this time period and it is quite a bit of work to get all of this data in the game.

It also takes awhile to code up the intended changes to the game. Its not like spreadsheet where you can drop in some additional numbers and come out with a different calculation. Changes at one point in the code have implications at other places (sometimes unintended or unexpected changes too).

BTS has stated what they would like to do for CMBB and are now hard at work trying to accomplish that goal. They don't have a full time marketing contractor to go out and hype an unfinished game and say how many non-existant features will be in the game, yada, yada, yada... Anytime that is spent on giving us 'updates' is time not spent on CMBB.

Steve has stated that he'll update us when there is significantly more info to give out. Besides, giving out info on CMBB is like feeding sharks; once a little blood is spilled there's a feeding frenzy.

[Wreck]

Hyping CMBO before its release made business sense. That way people would become aware it was out there, and save their pennies. As it turned out the pent-up demand was far more than they anticipated.

Not hyping CMBB make sense. Anyone likely to demand it can just buy CMBO, now, and be happy as a pig in ****. And it leaves them relatively free from the hassles of putting together hype.

[Mikael]

I do remember Steve saying that they'd post some new screenshots at the end of August, and then we would gradually get more and more information. Of course there may be some issue at hand more important than feeding us info, which is totally understandable. Our patience will be rewarded sooner or later.

[Barrold]

When there is something worth letting us know, I am sure we will be informed. Could be any number of reasons but if it changes anything from what has already been released I would be we would hear about it fairly quickly.

I am anxious for it too

BDH

[Doug Beman]

I try not to think about it too much, because that reinforces the fact that I have nothing to do outside of work except sit around in front of the PC (when I'm not toiling at the office that is)

It hammers home that I need real hobbies, a g/f, and things like that there.

DjB

[Vanir Ausf B]

I strongly suspect they are simply too busy and don't have time.

Steve gave the general impression that they didn't really start work on CM2 in any major way until the last CMBO patch was released in February. That means they set a schedule for themselves to do the whole east front 1941-45 in 10 months. That's a lot of work in very little time.

[ 09-01-2001: Message edited by: Vanir Ausf B ]

[Juju]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Wreck:

Hyping CMBO before its release made business sense<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hyping CMBO? Funny... Never noticed that myself, the hyping bit.

[Andreas]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by James Crowley:

Now there are almost no CMBB threads posted at all. The few that have started have just fizzled-out, as there has been no "official" response. CMBB seems to have become rather ephemeral; to the more casual observer it would appear not to even exist<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I would suggest that is a case of the culture on the board - it currently does not lend itself to serious discussion of historical events, and there also appears to be a lack of interest in discussing GPW issues, probably due to a lack of knowledge of the 'casual' posters. It is difficult to get information of the same depth as is easily available on the web for the western allies, and the Germans.

I would welcome more discussion on GPW matters, and I am busy reading up on it, but that all takes time.

[Juju]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Germanboy:

I would welcome more discussion on GPW matters.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Andreas, at the risk of sounding stupid (must've missed that one): what's GPW stand for?

[Ron]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by James Crowley:

Etc etc....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Seems like a good *method* to illicit some info for which I am all ears as well, though Steve has already said after the last previews we wouldn't hear anything more for awhile. I imagine they are all hard at work on CMBB and in the long run that is best for all of us.

Juju: AFAIK GPW stands for Great Patriotic War

Ron

[Battlefront.com]

Pvt Ryan wrote,

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>The more time BTS spends working on CMB2B and the less time they spend chatting about it in the forum means the sooner CMB2B will be done.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bingo The time we have available for CMBB's ambitious feature list is not that great. We spent 3 years on the first one, only about 1 year for CMBB. Things are going well, VERY well in fact, but we are very busy. I went to bed at 5am this morning and got up at 10:30am, so let's not speculate that we are slacking off, OK?

While CMBO was in development there was a LOT of things that needed to be discussed with you guys because the game concept itself was totally untested. For the longest time we had nobody looking at the game besides Charles and myself, so this BBS was sort of a Beta Testing sounding board. But now we have plenty of folks already primed and ready to go for CMBB testing. There are about 5 core people testing it now, and very soon we will go into our first broad Beta Testing phase. And no, we are not in need of any more testers In fact, we had to cut dozens from our various lists. Too many testers is a very bad thing.

As for the discussions here... many of them are rehashing and rehashing yet again, issues that are SPECIFIC to CMBO. Since we aren't making any more changes to that game, it seems to be a poor use of our limited time debating things we aren't going to be changing for quite some time (i.e. eventual redo of the Western Front). Other discussions that are relevant are often ones we have seen before. Fresh topics of converstaion will sprout up once we get through the first phase of the Beta testing and we give you all some details about what to expect with the final. But things are just not "ready for prime time" in that regard. Big stuff has been nailed down, but the specifics are in flux.

Why no new screenshots? Well, I had said that I would put some up at the end of August (which was yesterday BTW ), but we haven't done any significant artwork changes since the last update. Instead, Dan has been spending all his time cranking away on the models. As of this past week pretty much all of the German and Soviet models have been completed. Now time for him to start pounding out textures When we have some available and in the game, then you will see some screenshots.

One other thing... we needed to expend a huge amount of energy promoting CMBO and its concepts because it was so radical and our first Internet only release. This time around such energy is not needed for this and therefore is better spent making the game better, not the promotion of it.

In conclusion, things will change in terms of our involvement here in the very near future. But for now, our noses are to the grindstone!

Steve

[Bobbaro]

Thanks Steve, know your're busy, things change; if they don't something is wrong. Success is often as difficult in its way as the contrary. The greatness of CMBO did not set a standard, it set off a whole new processs for gaming. Your current work obviously has to keep moving. Repetition of the grand times of CMBO's development, however wonderful, just won't happen again. You can't go home, or jump into the same river. Home is where you make it and likewise the river where you are.

[ 09-01-2001: Message edited by: Bobbaro ]

[Mikael]

Thanx for the update Steve.

[Michael Emrys]

Fair enough.

Michael

[PiggDogg]

Steve,

Thanks for your update to us, the unwashed, or maybe the washed, masses. When CMBB comes out, it comes out.

Take your time; grind your nose into that stone; and don't spend too much time responding to us. We should be big boy adults & let you do your work.

Cheers, Richard

[Andreas]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Juju:

Andreas, at the risk of sounding stupid (must've missed that one): what's GPW stand for?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sorry - that is my private acronym for 'Great Patriotic War'. Which AFAIK is the official term for the war in Russian. I find it more appropriate than 'Eastern Front' or any other term I have heard.

Steve, thanks for the update.

[ParaBellum]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Big Time Software:

Things are going well, VERY well in fact, but we are very busy. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

OK, that's all I wanted to hear. Now I can sleep again. Eat again. Live on...

[James Crowley]

Thanks for the reply Steve. I think Parrabellum summed it up very neatly.

That's pretty much all I was looking for too.

I have every confidence that more detailed "reports from the front" will arrive when available; its just nice to have the occasional "alls well"

[Blenheim]

OK, God himself (aka Steve) has spoken.

Thanks !!!

Er... so they have ALL the models, he said.... how many of them? Please... just give me (yet another) good reason to buy CMBB !!!

[BFCElvis]

The response from Steve is something I had heard from BTS before. It makes complete sense. So many of the basics of the game were already written for CMBO.

And Andreas you are more correct than you might know. I read the BTS forum in each of it's locations for probably a year and a half before I ever posted. The reason I didn't was because my knowledge was no where close to what people were posting and because of that felt I didn't have anything to contribute until just before the beta demo came out. Due to the sucess of the game and the heavy influx of people (both VERY good things) having focused intelligent discussions about details of weapons, vehicles and troops is now untenable. Before I always thought it was a big help for BTS to have input on those issues. Now it would be a waste of their resources. Additionally I assume they are now having those same conversations in a more private forum.

[Barrold]

It always sounds better when Steve says it, so thanks to him for popping in for the reassurance.

I like the acronym of GPW and while I can think of some reasons why it might now be more appropriate I would like to see a discussion for alternatives. I think that this is definitely going to be a much larger focus in the near future so having a easy abbreviation that is agreeable would be a good thing I suppose.

I have been looking up the books I have about the Russo-German War (RGW?) and the keen interest I have in this area has been amplified by the impending release of CM:BB. Not having a game or demo to bounce around and discuss only tends to add to the number of questions that are bouncing in my head as to how this or that situation will be handled in CM:BB and at this point they are moot speculation no matter how much I am itching to see them answered on the big screen.

Another question I had for this group is whether the mod guys (and Kitty of course) are revving up to work on the new game?